Intruder at Justin Trudeau's home entered by mistake, left note as apology, police say

A drunken teenager with a bad sense of direction — and not a violent political saboteur — is to blame for the security scare at Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s Rockcliffe home, Ottawa police said Tuesday.

Police announced they will not be laying charges in relation to the incident earlier this month, which sparked calls for a review of security measures for the high-profile politician.

Police said the evidence available doesn’t meet the threshold needed to support a criminal charge. And the culprit, they say, has written a personal letter of apology to the Trudeau family.

Staff Sgt. Kal Ghadban said the young man thought he was entering a friend’s house on the morning of Aug. 16, and text messages retrieved from his phone appear to back that story up.

“We did confirm there was some instructions given to him on his phone around that time of day from his friend, who lives nearby to enter the yard and enter through the unlocked door,” explained Ghadban.

“He believed he was entering the proper residence of his friend and that was confirmed through text messages from the instructions,” said Ghadban. “This individual believed he was walking into a place he was allowed to be in.”

According to Ghadban, the intruder had no idea he was in Trudeau’s house nor that anyone was home. In fact, Trudeau’s wife and children were asleep upstairs and the Liberal leader was out of town.

Police said the young man never left the kitchen area, which he accessed through an unlocked door. The gate to the yard of the home was also unlocked, Ghadban said.

Once inside, the intruder realized he was in the wrong house and momentarily contemplated stealing what he thought were the “valuable” knives and electronics. He had a change of heart, and instead left a note out of remorse, police said. Police refused to release the note.

A source who asked not to be identified has said the note suggesting the family should lock its doors was placed on a line of “five or six large butcher knives” in the home.

Ghadban said the intruder placed the knives near the other items he had thought about taking.

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“He thought he was doing the right thing by leaving a note and apologizing and he thought that would probably be the end of it,” said Ghadban.

The man eventually made it to the Rockcliffe Park house of his friend, which Ghadban said was “very, very close.”

The man came to police headquarters without a lawyer and turned himself in Friday after recognizing himself from the security video released by police. Police accept his explanation that he didn’t realize he was wanted until the video images were released and he saw them in the Citizen.

He has no criminal record or history with police and doesn’t live in Rockcliffe, police said.

“It appears he realized that he had entered a home but he didn’t realize the magnitude of his actions until Friday when he actually saw his own picture in the newspaper. He decided to come in holding that newspaper in hand to the front desk here and said, ‘It looks like this is me, I think I did this,'” said Ghadban.

“During the interview he did ask for an opportunity to write a letter of apology. We gave him that opportunity,” said Ghadban.

Ghadban said he wasn’t sure if the letter had been delivered. However, police had informed the Trudeaus of their decision not to lay charges. Ghadban said the family was supportive of the decision once they learned the details of the case.

Shortly after police announced no charges would be laid, Kate Purchase, Trudeau’s director of communications, released a brief statement. “We fully respect the Ottawa Police Services’ responsibility to make this determination,” Purchase wrote.

Police said they recognize how frightening the incident may have seemed.

“Any time a stranger comes into your home and a note is left behind, this can be deemed as threatening, disturbing and interpreted as a threat. However, there is no evidence to suggest that there is or was a threat made to the residents of that home,” said Ghadban.

“I cannot state strongly enough that in no way does this condone anybody entering a person’s home uninvited. However, given all the evidence in this case, investigators have determined there is no intent to unlawfully enter this home.”

The RCMP would not comment Tuesday on the existence nor the specifics of a threat assessment involving the Liberal leader.

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